


Get It Over With

by rudbeckia



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Surprise Kissing, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 20:59:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17433413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Hux and Ren are struggling with High Command. After a particularly irritating meeting, Hux suggests to Ren that they form a closer working relationship.Ren’s amenable to that idea, but there are a few misunderstandings they have to fix first.(Four lines of dialogue stolen from Kira/Odo on ST:ds9. Originally posted as a twitter-fic and tarted up a bit for here.)





	Get It Over With

As had become usual of late, the High Command holo-conference had not gone to Hux’s liking and he scowled around the table where, until a minute ago, the flickering blue faces of the other high ranking officers had appeared. Also dissatisfied, The Supreme Leader paced the room, giving Hux the impression that he was in the presence of a caged predator that he was somehow expected to control. Unbidden, an image of a rathtar-keeper throwing the bloody carcass of some less fortunate creature into a cage while the untameable beast within threw itself at sturdy tensasteel bars flashed across his mind, and he wondered, suppressing a momentary, inappropriate smile, if he should offer Kylo Ren some raw meat.  
Hux placed his palms flat on the table and pushed himself to his feet. As he stepped back and turned away from the conference table, he said, “Of course, Supreme Leader,” in his most mollifying tone, aware that he was indeed responsible for controlling this particular predator. “I will personally see to all your demands at once, whatever High Command have decreed to the contrary. About the other matter—“  
“What other matter?” snapped Kylo, coming to a halt in front of Hux and making him take an involuntary hop backwards.   
Hux’s voice rose in pitch and his cheeks warmed. “The matter of our working relationship.”  
“What about it?” Kylo almost growled. “I tell you what to do and—“  
“We don’t have one!” Hux spat the words out as quickly as he could lest he lose his nerve. Kylo snarled and raised his hand. Hux shook his head and backed off, hands protectively outstretched. “Oh no. Not that again. Ren, Stop.” With a look that hovered midway between amusement and surprise, Kylo lowered his hand. Hux took a breath and loosened his collar. It took half of his willpower not to rub away phantom tightness in his neck, and the other half to keep talking. “Hear me out, Ren. If I can’t count on your support in front of High Command you might as well replace me with one of those foolish old imperials, desperately clinging to the past, who would have you removed as soon as opportunity arose. If you—“  
“—and you wouldn’t?” Kylo’s eyebrows rose and one corner of his lips quirked up. “There was a time when you would have put a blaster bolt in my back while I lay unconscious.”

Hux tightened his lips into a pale line and spoke deliberately. “My feelings on that matter have changed, as you are no doubt aware.” He took a steadying breath. “If you care to remember, there was also a time not so long ago when we worked together closely. I truly believe that for the good of the Order we should present a united front and let High Command protest our plans until they are blue in the face.” Hux smirked at the fleeting fantasy image of Imperials gasping like landed fish while he looked on with a sneer. He paused for breath then, encouraged by Ren’s lack of negative response, continued. “We should put aside our differences and build a bridge over the gap that divides—“  
“Build a bridge!” Kylo laughed, a short bark. “There is no gap between us.”  
“No? Good! Well then—“  
“There is a yawning chasm more treacherous than the Pit of Carkoon.”   
Hux watched Kylo Ren shoulder his way through the door almost before it had opened far enough for his breadth. He sighed deeply and patted a stray strand back from his forehead. “I think,” he said quietly to himself, “that went rather well, considering.”

As promised, General Hux immediately relayed the Supreme Leader’s orders to the hangar bay where his TIE-Silencer awaited modifications that Hux himself had had a hand in designing based on Ren’s demands. He followed up his verbal commands with the appropriate paperwork then set his cap on his head and his greatcoat over his shoulders. See to it personally, he had promised, and see to it personally he would. He informed Captain Opan of the change to his planned schedule and set off at a brisk march for the turbo lift that would take him to the hangar deck. In his head, he replayed his discussion with Kylo Ren, looking for any sign that the Supreme Leader might be becoming more receptive to his suggestions of a closer partnership. Aside from the fact that he had not been physically or mentally assaulted by some unseen force for several weeks—although, whether real or imagined, the threat remained—Hux chose to dwell on the fact that Kylo Ren had laughed at him and made a joke before leaving instead of questioning his intelligence and pushing him out of the way. Perhaps, mused Hux as he entered the hangar with the beginnings of a smile tugging at his lips, he should make a follow-up offer to the Supreme Leader sooner rather than later, while he was still in relatively good humour.

The Colonel in command of the hangar scurried over and saluted. She looked up at Hux and he returned the salute. She spoke with a firm, clear voice with just the right mix of earned authority and appropriate deference. Hux decided he rather liked her.  
“General! We are honoured by your visit. I will call an inspection directly.”  
“No need,” Hux reassured the young woman he had promoted early out of necessity after heavy losses sustained on The Supremacy. He struggled to recall a name. “But thank you for being prepared, Colonel Riekan. I am only here to confer with the team leader overseeing upgrades to the Supreme Leader’s personal fleet.”  
“If you would care to follow me, sir?” Riekan smiled. “I think you will be pleased with their progress.”  
“Oh, I am pleased, if your reports are accurate. However, Leader Ren is not so easy to impress.” Hux noted the slight change to the set of the Colonel’s shoulders and the falter of her step. To her credit, she did not stop and turn to show him the face he knew would be ashen. Hux dropped his voice a little. “I must impress upon the team that although their hard work is appreciated, harder work would be appreciated more. I hope to avoid a surprise inspection from the Supreme Leader himself.”  
“In that case,” replied Riekan, “we will redouble our efforts. I will assign as many technicians as I can to the task and order compulsory overtime. It will be unpopular—”   
“As unpopular as a visit from Kylo Ren himself?” asked Hux, keeping the smile from his face with careful self control as Riekan halted and pointed at the swarm of technicians around Ren’s Silencer.  
“As you can see, we are not idle.”  
“I did not imply that I thought you idle at all, Colonel.” Hux sighed. “Do I need to disturb the team leader, or can I count on you to see that Leader Ren’s Silencer is ready to fly by the end of Aurek Shift tomorrow?”  
Riekan’s eyes widened and her face flushed at the sudden change to her schedule. She bit her lip and flared her nostrils but her voice, when it came, was assured. “It will be done as a matter of extreme urgency, General. You need not trouble the team leader. I will see to it personally.”  
With a smile and another exchange of salutes, Hux left the hangar team to their seemingly impossible task.

As he waited for the turbo lift, Hux wore the satisfied smile of someone pleased with himself. When the door hissed open to reveal Kylo Ren, Hux dropped the smile and glared at the Supreme Leader. “What are you doing here?” Hux demanded, voice as low as he thought audible in the noisy hangar. “I promised I would see to it personally, and I have done so. Your TIE-Silencer will be ready for your test flight by the end of Besh Shift as you ordered.”  
“That remains to be seen by me, General.” Kylo took a step forward to leave the turbo lift. Hux held up his hand.   
“Please, Ren, let my technicians do their jobs undisturbed. If they are in fear for their lives, they will make mistakes that slow their progress. They are competent and capable. I trust them, as you should trust me.”  
Kylo raised his eyebrows at Hux’s words but took a step back into the turbo lift. Hux joined him and ordered the lift to carry them to the command deck. Once the initial lurch indicated that they were in motion, Hux turned to Kylo. “You know,” he said, “your programme of upgrades is rather ambitious. I thought we should reconsider the timeline for your other craft, now that your TIE-Silencer has priority. After all, you can only fly one at a time. Perhaps we could discuss it over dinner?”   
Although Hux was normally highly attuned to the Supreme Leader’s moods, Kylo’s face was strangely unreadable. He stared at Hux for a few uncomfortable seconds while the lights dimmed and brightened as the lift hurtled past each deck.  
“Dinner. And then what?” Kylo faced the lift doors. “Would you expect me to kiss you goodnight?”  
Hux assumed the question to be another joke and faced the doors too. They stood shoulder to shoulder. “Well then,” Hux said brightly, a brief smile lighting his face. “Maybe.”  
“Then why do we need dinner?” said Kylo, turning back to Hux with a frown. “We may as well get it over with right here.”

Hux’s smile slipped under the intensity of Kylo’s gaze. He faltered and looked down. Kylo Ren stood too close in the suddenly-very-small cabin of the turbo lift and Hux felt heat creep up his neck to colour his cheeks. He forced his head up to return Kylo’s steady gaze after a silent pause that felt like an eternity. Kylo tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. Before a derisory laugh from either of them could shatter the moment, Hux launched forward and held Kylo’s head with his left hand firmly fisted in his hair and his right moving up Kylo’s back. Kylo grasped Hux’s right wrist, and Hux felt the flat sheath of his monomolecular dagger pressed into the flesh of his forearm so that he could not shake it free even if he had wanted to. Hux kissed Kylo—parting his lips and flicking his tongue across Kylo’s lower lip—then leapt back shaking his arm, nervous grin fading to a forced smile at this second demonstration of Kylo’s lack of trust in him. “Called your bluff,” he said, stomach churning and voice faking brightness.  
Kylo Ren stood perfectly still, eyes wide and eyebrows high on his forehead, jaw slack and mouth making the shape of an ‘oh’. For three seconds he and Hux stared at each other, then with a sudden flurry of movement Kylo pulled Hux back to him. When they broke apart at the stomach-dropping feel of deceleration, Kylo murmured, “I never bluff. Dinner, then. Later.”  
Still unbelievably alive, it was all Hux could do to nod acknowledgment as he left the turbo lift and turned toward the bridge.

Hux struggled to keep is mind on the routine task of inspecting the Dorn Shift changeover. He mused on the trivialities of what time Kylo Ren might demand to be fed, and what available delicacies he might offer the Supreme Leader to eat, and distracted his mind from anything else he might think to offer Kylo Ren, should he desire it. All too soon his mundane inspection was over and he met briefly with the new batch of lieutenants and captains to demand improvements for the next inspection. He left the bridge to the sound of one of the more experienced officers calling for simulations and drills to begin. Marching smartly to the commanding officers’ habitation deck, Hux resolved by the time he arrived at his own suite to comm the Supreme Leader and put him off until he could make suitable preparations. 

Hux let himself inside and the lights came up gradually to his preferred level of illumination. He shrugged off his greatcoat and slipped his cap from his head, placing both carefully on the stand by the door. Anticipating an evening of undisturbed quiet, Hux turned and let out a short but piercing involuntary screech.   
“Supreme Leader! I expected you later,” said Hux once he thought he could trust his voice not to fail him and his heart not to jump through his ribcage.   
Kylo Ren shrugged. “It is later. You invited me to dinner.”  
“Yes,” said Hux, plucking at his left sleeve with the fingers of his right hand. “I did. Well then. Um. Dinner.” Nerves made Hux grin and he turned away from Kylo to reach the console on his desk. He commed the nearest kitchen and ordered food from their limited menu. A presence nearby made Hux look round. Kylo stood behind him, and close.  
“Um. Would you like the spiced nerf meat or are you vegan? There’s—”  
“I’m not hungry,” said Kylo.   
Kylo moved forward. Heart thumping and stomach churning, Hux stepped backward until the backs of his thighs pressed against the hard edge of his bronzewood desk. Kylo leaned close to Hux’s ear and said, “Are you?”  
“Ah,” said Hux. “Um,” he elaborated. “Well then,” he decided.  
Kylo raised a hand. Hux flinched automatically and Kylo frowned. “I didn’t come here for that,” he said, looking away and dropping his hand. “I... regret that you have learned to be wary of me.”  
Kylo raised his hand more slowly and pushed back the few strands of red that had escaped Hux’s severe style. “Do you remember,” asked Kylo, voice barely a breath, “how you used to get ready for me?”   
Hux swallowed and let out a breathy, nervous laugh. “You were always so impatient.”  
“I hated when you made me wait,” Kylo said.   
“Are you playing with me, Ren?” Hux asked, leaning back uncomfortably and feeling his thighs ache where the desk pressed into his muscle. “If you’re not here for dinner then what are you here for?”  
Kylo shook out his shoulders and took a small step back. He frowned at Hux. “Can’t you guess? Can’t you work it out in that strategic head of yours?”  
Hux stood forward and felt his skin tingle where blood had been restricted. “I would not dare to presume my Supreme Leader’s intentions. I had hoped we could have a civilised meal together and discuss the fleet but—“  
“Banthashit!”

Kylo took three steps back and turned. He scowled on Hux’s sofa and gripped the edge of the ice-blue fabric seat with both hands. “You used to wait here for me and I’d come to see you soon as I could get away. Admit it. I know you miss it too.”  
It was too much. Hux followed with his eyes only. “Ren, that was years ago. It was a short infatuation that didn’t work out. I want us to work together but I don’t want to go back to—“  
“You do. You kissed me. I felt it like it was boiling off you.”

Hux remained silent. It would be the easiest thing in the galaxy to feed lies to Ren, although without the distraction of the hustle and bustle of the hangar he might easily sense such a blatant deception. Hux thought back to those brief months long ago when he and Kylo had believed themselves invincible with only the scantest of evidence, and reflected that now perhaps with Snoke gone and the Rebellion all but crushed, they might feel that way again. Kylo sensed the shift in him before he was completely aware of it himself and held out one hand, beckoning. Hux moved to take it.  
“I thought about what you offered me,” said Kylo. “A united front. Support. A working relationship.” Hux watched Kylo’s eyes rise to meet his uncertain gaze. “Trust.”  
“Trust,” echoed Hux.   
“Trust.” Kylo nodded. “A partnership without Snoke setting you up to snap at my ankles only for me to knock you back down to heel.” Hux raised his eyebrows, ready to anger should Kylo pursue this particular analogy. “It was Snoke,” said Kylo, “who sent me on mission after mission after he found out I’d been coming to you for comfort and companionship in those early, cold months.”  
Hux shook his head. voice, flat, he said, “It was Snoke who told me you had chosen to give up personal attachments because you were seeking a greater truth or some other such kark.”  
Kylo shook his head and smiled. Hux dared a rueful laugh.

Tentatively, Hux perched beside Kylo on the sofa. After a minute he slid back and reclined. Kylo still held his hand in a warm, firm grip. Hux sighed. “So, Leader Ren, how do you think this partnership will work?”  
Kylo gave no indication that he had listened. “He held me back through the force and now I am free of his restraints,” said Kylo, angling his body to look at Hux. “He held you back by making you his general then denying you promotion. Did you know he let rumours fly that you were promoted too young? That it was a mistake?”  
“I think I have more than earned my position,” said Hux in a sharp tone. “Do you plan to put that right?” he added, not daring to allow hope to creep into his voice since Ren might yet have some game to play. But Kylo sat forward and nodded.   
“Yes,” he said. “Chose your rank. It doesn’t matter to me.”  
“I still rather like the sound of Grand Marshal,” said Hux. “Will there be a ceremony?”  
“Like the one you told me you wanted when you said years ago that you would be Supreme Leader one day?” Kylo asked.  
“You remember!” Hux laughed. “I remember your reply was ‘over my dead body’ or something like that.”

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence between them.

“Why?” asked Kylo. “In the throne room.”  
Hux took a deep breath and stared at the opposite wall. Trust, he thought. Truth.   
“You made me believe that you hated me. You became an obstacle to my ambition. In that instant, with Snoke fallen, I saw you sitting on that throne instead of him, dangling false promises in front of me just like he did. I couldn’t bear it. Not from you.”  
“No,” said Kylo. “I mean why didn’t you shoot.”  
“Well,” said Hux. “Maybe I felt something for you or maybe my blaster caught in its holster or maybe the trigger jammed. Choose your reason. It matters to me as much as my rank does to you.”  
“You could have disposed of me on Crait,” said Kylo quietly. “I showed weakness there. Anger. Despair. I fell for a trick.”  
“Perhaps my charge pack was running low,” said Hux.   
Kylo laughed. “Thank you for being poorly equipped to deal with my demise.”

Kylo watched Hux’s face for a few seconds and, out of habit, Hux tried to keep any emotion from breaking through his mask of impassive calm. He couldn’t last. At the first genuine upward twitch of his lips, Kylo pulled him into his arms. This time there was nothing abrupt or hurried about their kiss, and when Hux suggested with a yawn that they continue discussions over caf in the morning, Kylo scooped him into his arms and carried him to bed.


End file.
